Sweet Things
Veronica wants to kill two birds with one stone, combining a Ministry supply pickup with a scientific fact gathering mission. Cast * Sam Yao * Veronica McShell Plot We'll Be Fast Twenty minutes to get to a Ministry supply drop point and complete one of Veronica's tests on the way? You'll be cutting it fine and the Ministry won't wait, so you'd better be quick! Visual Contact Soon You find a pack of suitable zombies, and Veronica stresses the urgency of gathering data for rigorous testing; Paula's not getting any better. Sam and Veronica agree The Ministry is shady, but you can use them work towards a shared goal. Just Like That Today's experiment involves... herding zombies? According to Veronica no matter the result she'll have learned something, so you get to work. Get Out Of There! Seems like Veronica hasn't properly risk assessed this experiment. Coralling zombies is not as easy as she makes it sound, and you're forced to flee after losing control of the pack. En Route To The Drop Site Sam gets in some dad practice, chiding Veronica for being reckless. The pressure's getting to Veronica and she rants about how she needs to keep proving her usefulness to The Ministry. Sam relents and okays another test. Figure It Out As We Go You and Veronica come up on the drop site, zombies in tow, and this time you'll have help from The Ministry. You lead the pack to a painted bull's-eye and The Ministry 'helps' by dropping your supplies on top of them. Veronica and Sam reach a truce about safety and risk, and she plans her next test for the way back. Transcript SAM YAO: Alright. Veronica, Runner Five – gates. VERONICA MCSHELL: The Ministry sent word? It’s here? SAM YAO: Cargo plane’s headed this way. They want you at the drop point in twenty. VERONICA MCSHELL: Ugh, finally! SAM YAO: Thought you only put the requisition for new equipment in two days ago. VERONICA MCSHELL: You try spending two days staring at blood samples you can’t analyze because you don’t have the right equipment. SAM YAO: Well, the important thing is now you’ve got shiny new, uh, what are they again? VERONICA MCSHELL: Mass spectrometer circuits! The Ministry pulled them out of a genetics lab down south. We had a machine in New Canton, but the electronics corroded. This will mean we can get it working again! Get the gates open! SAM YAO: I’m on it, I’m on it! siren, gates raising What’s the rush? The thing’s not going to get here any faster. VERONICA MCSHELL: I have a test that I need to run on our way to the airdrop point. SAM YAO: Need to run, or - ? VERONICA MCSHELL: It’s an idea I’ve been working on. It’s not going to take long, but it requires an outdoor trial and two people. This is a perfect time. Five’s the only one of your runners who doesn’t mess up my notes by talking too much. SAM YAO: Alright. But watch the clock. Ministry are on a tight timetable, and they’ll only drop if they see you there waiting. If you miss them, you’ll have to wait until the next flyover to get your uh, mass spectator circuits. VERONICA MCSHELL: Weren’t you studying engineering before the apocalypse? SAM YAO: I’m… I must have missed that lecture. VERONICA MCSHELL: Alright. Come on, Five, we’ll be fast. SAM YAO: Looks like four zoms ahead of you by about two kilometers. Uh, I don’t think they’ve noticed you yet. VERONICA MCSHELL: What’s their physical condition? SAM YAO: Looks alright, for zombies. VERONICA MCSHELL: They’ve got all legs in working order? No crawlers, no fast zoms? SAM YAO: One hundred percent shambling. VERONICA MCSHELL: That should work. SAM YAO: You know, you are allowed to have a nice normal run. Doesn’t have to be science 24/7. VERONICA MCSHELL: We need data, Sam. You know that more than anyone. Doctor Cohen is close to the end. She’s been sleeping chained up in case she turns in the night. SAM YAO: Yeah, I know. VERONICA MCSHELL: We’re as close as we’ve ever been to a cure, but there’s still so much we don’t know. We’re identifying key changes in the blood during the progression of the zombie virus. If we can disrupt just one of them, we could stop the catastrophic brain damage occurring. All of this messing around with archaeology is all very well, but anything we find out has to be subjected to a rigorous test. We can’t just start trying any old thing we think these Vikings or Doctor Dee might have done. SAM YAO: Can’t we, oh, I don’t know – suck it and see? VERONICA MCSHELL: And what if we manage to create a super zombie? An unkillable zombie? Or mutate the virus that it became airborne for real? Remember what happened when just a few particles were airborne in my labs? SAM YAO: Yeah. That’s a good point, actually. VERONICA MCSHELL: We need to observe minute cellular changes, learn all the stages of the zombie virus’ progress! Zombie behavior in the field can give us vital clues as to changes in its brain structure. SAM YAO: Well, yeah, I get that. VERONICA MCSHELL: So your problem with my using any available moment to do testing is - ? SAM YAO: Well, it’s just… the Ministry. I mean, don’t they slightly worry you? And their people… VERONICA MCSHELL: Oh, yes. They worry each other. Sigrid’s told me she doesn’t know if she can trust the Builder. Did you know he was an agent provocateur during the Afghan war? And I doubt he’d stay around very long if she wasn’t in charge of the most extensive set of resources in the country. SAM YAO: So - VERONICA MCSHELL: They’re using him, I’m using them, they’re using me. That’s how biological organisms operate: mutual benefit, symbiosis. Sam, I’m not like you. I don’t have to like people to work with them. Why do you think the Ministry are so quick to send us equipment? They know the value of the work I’m doing here. They want to be the ones who “save the world”. SAM YAO: And what do you want? VERONICA MCSHELL: I just want to find out how it all works. And Doctor Cohen is dying, and my experiments aren’t producing any usable results, and I know that if I don’t come up with something quickly, then they’ll take this project away from me! I’m only fifteen. They’re going to notice eventually. SAM YAO: laughs Yeah, I know that feeling. Okay, okay, you’re going to make visual contact with those zoms pretty quick here. VERONICA MCSHELL: Good! We’ll speed up. I want as much time on this as possible. SAM YAO: You can see them now, right? VERONICA MCSHELL: Yep, we’re coming up on them now. SAM YAO: What happens next? VERONICA MCSHELL: Runner Five, I’ve got a measuring stick for you. Here, it folds out. Split off and run about two meters away from me, but make sure we stay level with each other. SAM YAO: Ah, the old McShell maneuver – funneling the zoms into the gap between you so you can pick them off. That was one of your dad’s favorites. VERONICA MCSHELL: Yeah. He always took good notes. Anyway, now we’re going to keep moving alongside them, so as long as we keep to their speed and maintain our positions, I think we should be able to control where they go. SAM YAO: You mean like herding them? Why would you want to herd zombies? VERONICA MCSHELL: The Ministry wants a way to deal with zoms in populated areas that doesn’t involve firing guns around innocent people. And if it works, it will mean that their ability to detect equidistant objects has remained intact, a fairly complex form of spatial reasoning. SAM YAO: And if it doesn’t? VERONICA MCSHELL: I’ll have learned something interesting about the zombie hippocampus. Now we get to do the fun part. Get your measuring stick up, Five. Now run! Just like that. SAM YAO: You know what this reminds me of? VERONICA MCSHELL: Five, you’re falling back. Speed up a little. Not too much! SAM YAO: The night after we finally decided to do it. Paula got absolutely plastered on home-brewed cider, and Janine and me had to walk her across the township and put her to bed so she wouldn’t end up in the armory or somewhere by mistake. It was a lot like this, except I don’t think the zoms are staggering as much. VERONICA MCSHELL: The zom in the lead’s getting too close to you, Five. Back up! SAM YAO: Veronica, watch that zom at your five o'clock! VERONICA MCSHELL: Ugh, why does he keep coming so close to me? Five, move in on your side. Closer. No, not that much. SAM YAO: It’s going for your arm! VERONICA MCSHELL: You’re too close! SAM YAO: Five, don’t let it get hold of you. Hit it with the stick! splatters Yeah, like that. VERONICA MCSHELL: They’re out of formation! If they’re not being funneled equally between us, they’ll each pick someone to attack. SAM YAO: They’re definitely attacking! VERONICA MCSHELL: Get away from me! Five, we need to reposition. SAM YAO: No, you’ve lost control of them. Both of you, get out of there! VERONICA MCSHELL: Sam! SAM YAO: Now! Go! VERONICA MCSHELL: It wasn’t that bad. SAM YAO: You and Five nearly got yourselves eaten! And now you’ve got four zoms chasing you, and the Ministry of Recovery’s plane is only a few minutes away from the drop site. VERONICA MCSHELL: But the theory holds up! If we try it again, and we were more careful with our speed - SAM YAO: No! VERONICA MCSHELL: What if we reduce the sample size? Five hit one of them pretty hard. Another couple of shots to the head, and we’d only have three to deal with. SAM YAO: All I want is for you two to shake this pack, get the equipment, and get back inside. sighs Veronica, this is how your dad died. Please. VERONICA MCSHELL: No, I have to do it now! Stop arguing with me. It has to be now! SAM YAO: Um… VERONICA MCSHELL: You know Sigrid’s got plans beyond the cure. Crop growth, clean energy, medical aids. After this is over, they’ve talked about letting me have my own lab, letting me bring in anyone I want to help, even someone like Nadia if I wanted, and she barely even likes chemistry, and I want that! I can give them what they want. I’m learning so much about how the zombie virus works, I just need another couple of lucky breaks, and just to show them something like this, something useful, in the meantime! If I can keep showing them my work is good, I know they’ll make a place for me. I don’t want them to forget! SAM YAO:We’ll always have a place for you, Veronica. VERONICA MCSHELL: Will you always have a mass spectrometer for me? Please. It’s just a short test. I’m so close, Sam. We’re so close. SAM YAO: sighs Oh God. I am so going to regret letting you do this. I do not think this is good soon to be dad behavior. VERONICA MCSHELL: You mean - ? SAM YAO: Yes, yes. Go herd your zoms. But at the first sign they’re getting too close, Five – pistol. And then, I mean, bodily drag Veronica back to Abel. VERONICA MCSHELL: Okay! Uh, yes, good. Uh, we can pick up some zoms on the way to the drop site. SAM YAO: You’re coming up on the drop site now. Big open clearing with a sort of bullseye shape spray-painted on the ground. The Ministry says if you can draw the zoms in there, they’ll do the rest. VERONICA MCSHELL: I knew they’d help. And this test has been very interesting. The fact that we can’t hold the zombies at a steady pace when close to us suggests that some pheromones or one of their senses is interfering with the spatial reasoning centers. SAM YAO: And that trying this again will definitely get you killed. VERONICA MCSHELL: Probably, yes. The aircraft is here, though. SAM YAO: Once you’ve got the zoms on the target, peel off and get out of range as quick as you can, yeah? VERONICA MCSHELL: We know. SAM YAO: Nearly there. Plane’s cargo hold is open already. You need to get out of the way. VERONICA MCSHELL: We’re going, we’re going! Five, if we split off in opposite directions, it should confuse them for long enough for - SAM YAO: Five knows the drill. Both of you, move! They must be lining up the shot any second now. VERONICA MCSHELL: Wait! That’s - splatter SAM YAO: laughs When they said take care of it, I thought they meant guns, not offloading your package of circuits taped to some breeze blocks right onto the zombies. VERONICA MCSHELL: The bile’s only on the outside. guts squelch Do you think we should wipe it off? SAM YAO: laughs Maybe that’s the Ministry’s next plan for you – see if crushed up zoms attract regular ones. VERONICA MCSHELL: Based on the available data, I think what would happen - SAM YAO: Veronica, I was joking. VERONICA MCSHELL: I know. SAM YAO: For the record, all I’m trying to do is keep you safe, here. VERONICA MCSHELL: I know. This thing can’t always be safe, you know? Not completely safe. We’re working on something so much bigger than any one of us. SAM YAO: Fine. But we all have our jobs, and mine is to look after my runners. VERONICA MCSHELL: Yes, I know. Thank you, Sam. SAM YAO: Veronica. VERONICA MCSHELL: Yeah? SAM YAO: We’re still not luring zombies on the way back to Abel. VERONICA MCSHELL: I know that. SAM YAO: Good. VERONICA MCSHELL: I’m pretty sure the corpses of fallen zombies should repel, not attract, them. But don’t worry, Runner Five and I can figure that out as we run. Category:Mission Category:Season Four